The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Tuesday, invited bids to own and operate teams in the inaugural Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) scheduled to begin in March.
The Indian cricket board issued a press statement in which the apex body asked for ‘reputed entities’ to make a non-refundable payment of INR 5 lakh (USD 6000 approx.) by January 21 to obtain the invitation to tender, which details the eligibility criteria for buyers, after which they will be allowed to bid for teams.
Although there is no official confirmation, it is believed that some groups that own teams in the men’s edition of the cash-rich league would also be interested in acquiring women’s teams. Notably, the BCCI has already tweaked the women’s domestic calendar to accommodate the women’s IPL. The women’s season, which generally stretches from November to April, was recently advanced by a month to end by February this year.
Not to mention, BCCI has been conducting the Women’s T20 Challenge since 2018. The 2021 season, however, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, the T20 Challenge started as a one-off exhibition match between two teams in 2018 but has since been a three-team competition, with prominent overseas players joining the Indian talent. But for a while, the fans, as well as the experts, have been demanding much bigger competition along the lines of the men’s IPL.
“Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announces the release of an Invitation to Tender for the right to own and operate a team in the Women’s Indian Premier League. The Governing Council of the IPL invites bids from reputed entities to acquire the right to own and operate a team in the Women’s Indian Premier League through a tender process,” said BCCI in an official statement.
“The detailed terms and conditions governing the tender process, including eligibility requirements, the process for submissions of bids, proposed team’s rights and obligations, etc., are contained in the ‘Invitation to Tender’ (“ITT”), which will be made available on receipt of payment of a non-refundable fee of INR 5,00,000 (Rupees Five Lakhs Only) plus any applicable Goods and Services Tax. The procedure to procure the ITT documents is enlisted in Annexure A to this document. The ITT will be available for purchase till January 21, 2023. Interested parties are requested to email the details of payment made for the purchase of the ITT to wipl.teams@bcci.tv, as per the procedure laid down in Annexure A,” the statement added.
